O.B.: Technically the Deacon's hands should be crossed upon his breast (see above). However, in practice this does not visually work.
T.S.: I know I universally disregard that instruction at this point. While O.B. passed up the opportunity for a bit of shameless self-promotion, his essay Occult Exercise Doesn't Mean Aerobics treats of related matters.
O.B.: Remember, language has rhythm. You are not an Anglican priest.
THE SUN
The DEACON: Lord visible and sensible of whom this earth is but a frozen spark, turning about thee with annual and diurnal motion, source of light, source of life, let thy perpetual radiance hearten us to continual labour and enjoyment; so that as we are constant partakers of thy bounty we may in our particular orbit give out light and life, sustenance and joy to them that revolve about us without diminuition of substance or effulgence for ever.
The PEOPLE: So mote it be.
THE LORD
The DEACON: Lord secret and most holy, source of light, source of life, source of love, source of liberty, be thou ever constant and mighty within us, force of energy, fire of motion; with diligence let us ever labour with thee, that we may remain in thine abundant joy.
The PEOPLE: So mote it be.
THE MOON
The DEACON: Lady of night, that turning ever about us art now visible and now invisible in thy season, be thou favourable to hunters, and lovers, and to all men that toil upon the earth and to all mariners upon the sea.
The PEOPLE: So mote it be.
THE LADY
The DEACON: Giver and receiver of joy, gate of life and love, be thou ever ready, thou and thine handmaiden, in thine office of gladness.
The PEOPLE: So mote it be.
THE SAINTS
The DEACON: Lord of Life and Joy, that art the might of man, that art the essence of every true god that is upon the surface of the Earth, continuing knowledge from generation unto generation, thou adored of us upon heaths and in woods, on mountains and in caves, openly in the market-places and secretly in the chambers of our houses, in temples of gold and ivory and marble as in these other temples of our bodies, we worthily commemerate them worthy that did of old adore thee and manifest thy glory unto men,
(At each name the DEACON signs + with his thumb between index and medius. At ordinary mass it is only necessary to commemorate those whose names are italicized, with wording as is shown)
T.S.: Despite this statement, practice here seems to be always to use the full list. I suppose it depends on the Deacon's style. If someone is droning the collects a la Uncle Al on the Great Beast Speaks CD, the abbreviated version might be preferable; but with the style employed by some of the local Deacons, the short version is too short to build up serious momentum.
O.B.: If you do not learn the words, the script will bounce up and down in your hand while you are making all the crosses (this is even worse if you are not wearing your spectacles).
T.S.: If you have not learnt the words and need glasses to read your script, wear them. Personally I see no reason not to wear my glasses as Deacon, even though I have learnt the words.
Lao-tzu and Siddhartha and Krishna and Tahuti, Mosheh, Dionysus, Mohammed and To Mega Therion, with these also, Hermes, Pan, Priapus, Osiris, and Melchizedek, Khem and Amoun and Mentu, Heracles, Orpheus and Odysseus; with Vergilius, Catullus, Martialis, Rabelais, Swinburne and many an holy bard; Apollonius Tyanĉus, Simon Magus, Manes, Pythagoras, Basilides, Valentinus, Bardesanes and Hippolytus, that transmitted the light of the Gnosis to us their successors and their heirs; with Merlin, Arthur, Kamuret, Parzival, and many another, prophet, priest and king, that bore the Lance and Cup, the Sword and Disk, against the Heathen, and these also, Carolus Magnus and his paladins, with William of Schyren, Frederick of Hohenstaufen, Roger Bacon, Jacobus Burgundus Molensis the Martyr, Christian Rosenkreutz, Ulrich von Hutten, Paracelsus, Michael Maier, Roderic Borgia Pope Alexander the Sixth, Jacob Boehme, Francis Bacon Lord Verulam, Andrea, Robertus de Fluctibus, Johannes Dee, Sir Edward Kelly, Thomas Vaughan, Elias Ashmole, Molinos, Adam Weishaupt, Wolfgang von Goethe, Ludovicus Rex Bavariĉ, Richard Wagner, Alphonse Louis Constant, Friedrich Nietzsche, Hargrave Jennings, Carl Kellner, Forlong dux, Sir Richard Francis Burton, Sir Richard Payne Knight, Paul Gauguin, Docteur Gérard Encausse, Doctor Theodor Reuss, and Sir Aleister Crowley.
Oh Sons of the Lion and the Snake! With all thy saints we worthily commemorate them worthy that were and are and are to come.
May their essence be here present, potent, puissant and paternal to perfect this feast!
The PEOPLE: So mote it be.
THE EARTH
The DEACON: Mother of fertility on whose breast lieth water, whose cheek is caressed by air, and in whole heart is the sun's fire, womb of all life, recurring grace of seasons, answer favourably the prayer of labour, and to pastors and husbandmen be thou propitious.
The PEOPLE: So mote it be.
THE PRINCIPLES
The DEACON: Mysterious energy, triform, mysterious Matter, in fourfold and sevenfold division; the interplay of which things weave the dance of the Veil of Life upon the Face of the Spirit, let there be harmony and beauty in your mystic loves, that in us may be health and wealth and strength and divine pleasure according to the Law of Liberty; let each pursue his Will as a strong man that rejoiceth in his way, as the course of a Star that blazeth for ever among the joyous company of Heaven.
The PEOPLE: So mote it be.
BIRTH
The DEACON: Be the hour auspicious, and the gate of life open in peace and in well-being, so that she that beareth children may rejoice, and the babe catch life with both hands.
The PEOPLE: So mote it be.
MARRIAGE
The DEACON: Upon all that this day unite with love under will let fall success; may strength and skill unite to bring for ecstasy, and beauty answer beauty.
The PEOPLE: So mote it be.
DEATH
All stand, Head erect, eyes open.
T.S.: There is no indication that the people were standing any other way beforehand.
O.B.: This instruction may have a mystical interpretation.
T.S (later): Be that as it may, the instruction should probably still stand, as a “wake up call” as it were.
The DEACON: Term of all that liveth, whose name is inscrutable, be favourable unto us in thine hour.
The PEOPLE: So mote it be.
THE END
The DEACON: Unto they from whose eyes the veil of life hath fallen, may there
be granted the accomplishment of their true Wills; whether they will absorption
in the Infinite, or to be united with their chosen and preferred, or to be in
contemplation, or to be at peace, or to achieve the labour and heroism of
incarnation on this planet or another, or in any Star, or aught else, unto them
may there be granted the accomplishment of their Wills; yea, the accomplishment
of their Wills.
ΑΥΜΓΝ, ΑΥΜΓΝ,
ΑΥΜΓΝ.
The PEOPLE: So mote it be.
All sit.
The DEACON and the children attend the PRIEST and PRIESTESS, ready to hold any appropriate weapon as may be necessary.
T.S.: The general conclusion we came to is that it shouldn't be if the Priest and Priestess know what they're doing. I remember one disastrous Mass, though, where the Deacon (yrs truly) ended up holding the Lance for the whole of the Anthem while the Priest (mentioning no names as he has since got a lot better at it) shuffled his script.
T.S. (later): A practice which has recently been adopted by some Mass teams here is to have the children advance to the base of the steps, in line with their pillars, and face each other across the temple, at the start of the Collects, while the Deacon remains in place between the altar of incense and font for the rest of the ritual. Feb. 2005: This is now almost universal in the Yorkshire groups.
O.B.: From the end of the Priest’s circumambulation, the Priest, Deacon and Children form an inverted Tau, whose upright has extended as the Priest advances up the steps. In my opinion, this Tau should be maintained until the end of the Collects.